A wrangle over access coupled with a massive lift-and-shift operation that has disrupted production at British Motor Heritage since 2009 is over – and the panels many owners rely on to keep their classics alive are rolling off the presses once more.

The original ex-factory press tools used by BMH to produce genuine replacement panels for the MGB, Sprite and Midget, Spitfire/GT6, Stag, TR6, TR7/8, Mini and Morris Minor had, since the Seventies, been kept in Northumberland where the pressing work was contracted out.

But a massive hike in both the minimum order quantities demanded by the pressing firm and the price of those panels caused BMH to look at alternative arrangements closer to home. When it then attempted to bring production back to the Midlands, they were denied access to the land on which their tools were stored and resolving this issue added delays to the project.

With this hurdle overcome, the massive press tools – most weighing between 20 and 30 tons – then had to be transported to their new home near Warwick at an estimated cost of £250,000. This operation was completed by the end of 2009, but it took many months to set up the production lines, a task that was made more difficult by the discovery of a cracked bed on one of the main presses. As a result, gaps developed in stock availability and some panels had to be put on back order.

Now, though, it is back to business as usual for BMH. And that has to be good news for owners, and for the classic car industry as a whole.